The invention relates to a unique, frozen, rolled multilayer cinnamon roll pastry prepared from a soft, sweet dough. The rolled multilayer pastry has pastry layers and layers of a fat smear containing a cinnamon preparation between rolled pastry layers. The pastry is prepared using a preferred soft, sweet, pastry recipe, and an improved smear and cinnamon formulae. The preferred process results in an improved frozen product that can be thawed, baked and iced resulting in a finished cinnamon roll pastry, substantially equal in quality to a fresh cinnamon roll pastry freshly prepared from basic or primary ingredients.
Baked cinnamon rolls having a sugar icing have been a staple article of home preparation and commerce for many years. Such rolls have been made in a variety of sizes and recipes but have taken two basic product formats.
A first format involves the manufacture of a consumer product comprising canned frozen cinnamon rolls sold in retail outlets. Multiple cinnamon rolls are formed and combined in a well known pop-open fiberboard tube container. The cinnamon rolls are prepared by first separating the rolls from the container. The rolls are then baked, iced and served. These pastries are typically made from a hard dough in a dough extrusion process which is then combined with cinnamon, rolled and frozen into the product as sold. This frozen canned cinnamon roll product is not a premium quality item. The cinnamon rolls after preparation are small, dense and are thinly iced using the icing supplied with the tube. Our search of the prior art reveals Kaefer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,305,712 which relates to a method of making pastry using a chilled or frozen cylindrical mass of dough in an air tight container. The package can be stored until it is needed for the preparation of the pastry food.
The second common product format involves the preparation of a fresh cinnamon roll from basic ingredients. Such rolls can be made commercially or at home.
One common form of such a cinnamon roll is a premium pastry product made and served in a retail bakery outlet. Such retail shops have become common in large retail shopping centers such as shopping malls and other retail complexes. One such embodiment is the cinnamon roll manufactured and sold under the CINNABON(copyright) trademark. Cinnamon rolls are made from fresh ingredients under the CINNABON(copyright) trademark and are large pastries having a substantial fat content, a substantial sugar icing add-on but are not frozen. Such pastries have been successful because of the flavor and aroma and overall high quality of the product.
Another common form in a homemade cinnamon roll typically made using a variety of pastry recipes. A cinnamon layer without substantial amount of fat, and a homemade icing is used to complete the product. Typical homemade rolls have minimal layers (3-5), a limited fat content and are not frozen. Substantial attention has been given to improving frozen cinnamon roll preparations to achieve the taste, texture, size and overall quality of freshly made cinnamon rolls. While the broad outlines of cinnamon roll preparation is known, little in the art is directed specifically to providing a high quality frozen cinnamon roll.
We have found patents that teach pastry preparation. Bundschuh, U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,733 teaches an industrial machine configured for the manufacture of commercial cinnamon rolls. Bundschuh shows a machine containing a form into which dough is forced into a spiral shape. Nogueroles, U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,632 teaches a method for processing a mass of dough for bakery products. Nogueroles discloses a step-wise sheeting of lumps of dough into a controlled thickness sheet that can be further processed into a finished food item. Packer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,751 teaches a rolled mass of dough that can be sliced and formed to obtain a sheet-like article. The dough is preferably used for pizza preparation.
A substantial need in the art exists to provide a frozen cinnamon roll product and process that provides a cinnamon roll that is substantially equal to the quality achieved in a freshly prepared CINNABON(copyright) product. Accordingly, a substantial need exists to improve the quality of frozen products.
Surprisingly, we have found that a soft, sweet dough can be processed using commercial processing equipment into a rolled cinnamon containing roll pastry. Such soft, sweet doughs have been known to be resistant to commercial machine processing and have been avoided by food scientists in machined products and excluded by food scientists from use in frozen cinnamon roll preparations using machined dough processing. Prior to the invention, product dimensions, dough recipes, and product layers had been selected that result in the successful manufacture of a high quality cinnamon pastry from hard dough or bready dough recipes. In the preferred process of the invention, production rates, recipes, temperatures, and dimensions have been selected to permit the food engineer to obtain a quality product from a soft, sweet dough with smooth uninterrupted processing. The use of a soft sweet dough is an advance.
We have found that the soft, sweet dough can be machined into a sweet dough layer that can be further processed into the cinnamon roll. Such processing involves adjustments of sheet thickness, an addition of a fat smear, and an addition of a preferred cinnamon crumble. After the cinnamon crumble is added, the sheet is rolled into a multilayer cylinder, partially cut or pre-cut into rolls, packaged and frozen into useful frozen rolls. In a preferred mode, multiple rolls are formed into a partially cut cylinder, packaged and frozen for shipment to a remote preparation location. At that location, the cylinder containing multiple rolls are separated into single rolls, carefully returned to room temperature, baked, iced and sold.
For the purposes of this application the term xe2x80x9csoft, sweet doughxe2x80x9d indicates a dough that is a unique combination of total ingredient cooperation that is processed in a way resulting in a way that results in a unique rheology. The dough has a sweet taste and a soft tender mastication and mouthfeel. These properties and product characteristics are the result of the dough cell structure resulting from the recipe and processing. The elongated unbroken cell structure that departs from the prior art dense chewy dry crumb feel and provides a light soft moist mastication. The soft sweet dough has the following characteristics:
1. The dough is not extruded;
2. The dough is relaxed from the beginning and is not stressed during processing requiring a rest or relaxation step;
3. The dough cell structure is not broken and is in the form of an elongated cell different than typical oval shape with substantial cell breakage; and
4. The rheology of the dough results in a cinnamon roll that can be distinguished from hard or bready baked materials using a Farinograph or Instron measurements.
The appearance of the soft sweet dough is smooth and creamy colored. The dough has a high sweetener content; along with high levels of shortening, milk solids, and whole eggs. All of these ingredients contribute to the tenderness, improved texture, and extended keeping qualities of the baked product.
The term xe2x80x9csmearxe2x80x9d indicates a spreadable or flowable predominantly fatty composition that can be added in conventional dough processing techniques to a dough layer. The term xe2x80x9ccrumblexe2x80x9d typically refers to a particulate or powdered finely divided sugary solid material which can be added to pastry products in common processing techniques. Crumbles typically include powdered food ingredients including sugars, spices, etc. In the context of this application, a dough sheet typically refers to the product made by rolling a dough mass to a uniform thickness. The product is a dough layer made by typical continuous or semicontinuous processing having an arbitrary length and a width greater than 10 inches commonly between 20 and 50 inches in width. This sheet has a commonly controlled thickness of greater than 1 millimeter and typically between 4 and 6 millimeters.